Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende

OSLO, November 25. /TASS/. It is extremely important for Russia and Turkey at the moment to maintain a direct dialogue on the Russian Su-24 bomber shot down by a Turkish warplane on the Syrian-Turkish border, Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende told Norwegian News Agency (NTB) on Tuesday.

He said a direct dialogue was extremely important to ease tensions and to avert such incidents in the future. The minister called the situation "extremely serious" emphasizing, however, that territorial integrity was of vital importance for the NATO member countries, including Turkey.

A Sukhoi Su-24 bomber of Russia’s Aerospace Forces was on Tuesday downed by an air-to-air missile fired by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet when the Russian plane was at an altitude of 6,000 meters 1 kilometer away from Turkey’s border.

The Russian Defense Ministry specified that the Su-24 was downed when it was returning to the Khmeimim airbase in Syria.

"Objective control data analysis unambiguously showed that there was no violation of Turkey’s airspace," the ministry said. However, Turkey’s General Staff claims that the Turkish fighter jet shot down a plane that violated the country’s airspace. A statement circulated by the Turkish military says the plane’s crew received 10 warnings for five minutes.

NATO has supported Turkey, saying it has the right to protect its territory, but urged all necessary moves to avoid confrontation over the accident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with King of Jordan Abdullah II on Tuesday that Ankara’s attack against the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 plane, which took part in Russia’s antiterrorism operation in Syria and did not present a threat to Turkey, was a "stab in Russia’s back" delivered by terrorists’ accomplices.

Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes in Syria at facilities of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations, which are banned in Russia, on September 30, 2015, on a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.